Greater Anglia Franchise Extended

The Department for Transport (DfT) has today announced that the Greater Anglia franchise run by Abellio is to be extended to October 2016.  It had originally been due to expire in July 2014.  This has come about as part of a review of the whole franchising process following the West Coast main line debacle that has seen many franchises extended.

Full details of the DfT announcement can be found here.

Cold Waiting Room

The faulty heater in the waiting room has been reported to Greater Anglia.  Hopefully something more up to  the job will be installed.

2nd Deep Clean To Be Carried Out

Greater Anglia has announced that it will be carrying out a second deep clean of their trains.  This is over and above the usual daily clean the trains allegedly get.  One train will be deep cleaned per day.

A tacit admission perhaps that the first effort wasn't exactly a resounding success?  Or a requirement of the franchise that a second clean be done within a year of the first.

Greater Anglia Named Best UK Train Operator(!)

Less than two weeks after being voted second worst operator (worst amongst commuters) in the UK by Which? Magazine, Greater Anglia has been awarded Train Operator Of The Year at the annual Rail Business Awards.  The independent judging panel - who judging from the feedback that we have been getting from regular travellers have never been on a Greater Anglia train in their lives - praised GA's improved punctuality, higher customer service standards and engagement, and station improvements.  Special mention was made of the excellent performance during the Olympics but nothing about the poor state of the trains on the Great Eastern main line.

Extraordinary

Which? Survey Results

Further to our blog entry yesterday is transpires that Greater Anglia (GA) actually came bottom with commuters in the Which? survey published yesterday.  GA got 42% overall but when only commuters were surveyed the figure was just 36%.  Virgin Trains - the company almost stripped of its franchise in the West Coast debacle - came top with 67% overall with First Capital Connect coming bottom overall with 40%.

GA's scores were as follows:

• Frequency - 2/5
• Punctuality - 3/5
• Reliability - 2/5
• Cleanliness 2/5
• Passenger space 2/5
• Value for money 1/5

Which? Survey Results Different To Passenger Focus

Which? Magazine has published results of a survey which suggests that less than 50% of passengers are satisfied with the service provided by their train operating company.  This is a sharp contrast to to those figures published by Passenger Focus recently which suggested satisfaction levels of 85%.  The Which? results however are more in line with feedback received by the MRUA.

The Passenger Focus survey questioned 31,626 passengers in their survey to Which? Magazine's 7,500 passengers.  However the Which? survey questioned regular travellers.

MRUA Meeting With GA

The MRUA this morning met with GA Management where a number of topics were discussed including Harwich connections and direct services to London, selective door opening, car parking, disabled access at Manningtree Station and recent disruption.  A lot of useful information was exchanged to the benefit of both parties.